Health & Fitness

Bringing together a multidisciplinary group of experts from the fields of labour studies, public health, ergonomics, epidemiology, sociology and law, Sick and Tired examines the inequalities in workplace health and safety. Using an anti-oppressive framework, chapters interrogate a wide range of issues, including links between precarious employment and mental health, the inverse relationship between power and occupational health through the experiences of women, immigrants and older workers, and the need for creative strategies that promote health and safety in ways that support empowerment and equity.

Framed within a clear analysis of a new business-style heathcare model, the articles in this collection provide details as to how the new model impacts particular people in particular locations and offers suggestions for new directions in healthcare services.

When your doctor takes a blood sample for analysis, where does it go? Does it find its way to your local, publicly owned hospital? Does it take a longer journey to a private, for-profit lab in the next city? Chances are, you’ve never given it a lot of thought. In this daring exposé of the laboratory system, Sutherland investigates its historical and contemporary development in Canada and argues that the landscape has been heavily influenced by the private, for-profit companies – to the detriment of the public health care system.

When the novice Board of Trustees of the newly-amalgamated Ottawa Hospital appointed David Levine as the new CEO at a salary of $330,000, it expected some controversy, but nothing like the huge outcry that followed. From the initial healine in the Ottawa Citizen on May 1, 1998, “PQ Envoy to Head Hospital,” to the lynch-mob mentality at a public meeting on May 19th, to picketing and calls for boycotts of the Board members’ businesses, Levine became a scapegoat for many problems, resentments, and frustrations felt by the Ottawa-area population. Sections of the media did little to allay these fears and resentments, and at times strongly incited them. Randall Marlin’s fascinating analysis of the David Levine affair shows not just what happened, but also the far worse things that might have happened. It signals the fragility of Canada as long as basic ideas of fairness, tolerance, and respect for truth are given second place to flag-waving nationalism, sensationalism, and rumour.

In most Canadian provinces, people with severe physical disabilities are simply warehoused in nursing homes, where many people, especially in the age of homecare, are in the final stages of their lives. It is difficult for a young person to live in a home geared for death; their physical assistance needs are met, but their social, psychological, and emotional needs are not. Jen Powley argues that everyone deserves to live with the dignity of risk.

In Making a Home, Powley tells the story of how she got young disabled people like herself out of nursing homes through developing a group home for adults with severe physical disabilities. This book makes a case for living in the community and against dehumanizing institutionalization.

This book provides an in-depth examination of health and health care inequities, delving into the interplay between power dynamics, policy advocacy, evidence-based research, and political economy. It uniquely integrates document and interview data to critically analyze how inequalities related to class, race, ethnicity, and gender contribute to health inequities. By exploring the roles of various social systems — economic, political, cultural, and institutional — the book exposes the complex mechanisms perpetuating these disparities. What sets this work apart is its explicit argument that capitalism, integrally imbricated with neocolonialism, racism, and sexism, is the fundamental driver of health and health care inequities. It challenges prevailing narratives and a distinct perspective by advocating for socialist-oriented solutions. The book presents complex concepts in an understandable manner, making the issues of health inequities and social justice approachable for non-specialists. It is essential reading for those seeking real answers and new directions in dealing with health inequities.

A cancer diagnosis can be life changing for anyone, bringing new physical and emotional realities, changed relationships, and often frustration when dealing with healthcare systems. But living north of sixty means dealing with a higher level of healthcare inequity. Agnes Pascal compiles firsthand narratives from Northern and Indigenous cancer survivors and caregivers that illuminate the unique challenges of healthcare accessibility in the North.

In this rare volume, more than thirty voices offer compassionate advice and insightful analysis born from experience. With courage and dignity, they discuss fear, grief, and death; the logistics of medical travel for treatment; Indigenous and Western medicine; structural determinants of health, including industrial pollution and environmental racism; and the impacts of residential schools and “Indian hospitals” on northern communities. In these pages people share that hope comes from building healing communities.

This book is for people with cancer and their caregivers; health policy makers and advocates; scholars and practitioners of healthcare, Indigenous governance, or environmental racism; and anyone interested grassroots, community-based peer support.